Not What He Had Expected
by DredPirateBones
Summary: With the Wings of Freedom on his back, Levi has finally joined the Survey Corps. Now he's just that step closer to meeting his idol, Eren Jaeger. However, he may not be quite what Levi had been expecting. This was supposed to be a one-shot but it got away from me. Says complete but it's not. I'm still working on it...slowly.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't even know what I'm doing. I did get inspired by a fic on this site but for the death of me I can't remember what it was called and I'm sorry.**

**I've always wanted to see Eren as the Captain instead of Levi so I figured, why not, right?**

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Levi was good at hiding his emotion but even he couldn't help but smile, just a little, as he finally wrapped the green cloak with the 'Wings of Freedom' over his back. After living on the streets and making it through training, he was finally part of the Survey Corps.

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It was warm, but not hot; everyone who had joined the Survey Corps was standing at attention as Commander Armin Arlert read off names and assigned them to their Captains. This wasn't the first time Levi had seen the Commander but he was still surprised that he was so…small. He had been expecting someone like Erwin, tall, built, and short hair. However, Armin was the shortest one standing in front of them. Without a doubt the man had muscle mass but didn't look like a lot and his blonde hair flowed over his shoulders, even though he had tied the majority from the front back into a small ponytail. Even then, his bangs hung low on his forehead.

Flanking him was a woman with jaw length black hair and a man with messy brunette hair that, like the Commander's, fell into his face although his bangs where longer and ended below his stunning green eyes and the rest of his hair fell just past his jaw. Levi knew exactly who they were. The red scarf around the woman's neck was a dead giveaway and no one was ignorant enough to have not heard of the brunette. Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaeger, the Survey Corps' most deadly team that had ever been put together.

Rumor was that the two of them had come from Shiganshina, they saw the Colossal Titan kick in Humanity's front door and witnessed the Armored Titan destroy the inner gate. After that, they lived in Trost and, five years later when they were stationed in the city as they waited to choose which branch to join, saw the Colossal again. They had fought in that city, survived, and after witnessing that horror, they had still joined the Survey Corps. Levi admired that and acknowledged the amount of guts that took.

Unlike Armin, it was obvious that those two had muscle mass. Levi didn't bother looking at Mikasa, his eyes where firmly fixed on Eren's hands, which were wrapped in bandages. There were two other Captains that Levi recognized, Ymir and Jean Kirschtein. Ymir stood beside Eren while Jean stood on Mikasa's side.

"Erwin Smith, Hanji Zoe, Levi Rivaille, Petra Ral; you're with Captain Eren Jaeger." Armin announced. Levi heard Hanji squeal under her breath. He himself just barely managed to stop from smiling; he did however stand just a little bit straighter. Eren had been his goal, his role model, and his hero. The Captain was everything Levi wanted to be. Strong, fearless; another rumor was that he had jumped into several titans' mouths just to pull out his comrades, and most importantly no one fucked with him. Being small, Levi had been attacked several times on the streets, the thugs thinking that he was too weak to fight back.

Getting out, that was what Levi had wanted the most. At training he realized that there were those kids from better places that only joined so that they could make it to the inner walls. They believed that they were the strongest in the group and stuck their noses up at everyone else, simply because they were physically bigger. But, on the street, Levi had seen one boy stand up to five in the defense of another. That, to Levi, was true strength. The first time he had heard that Eren had jumped into a titans' mouth to save someone he didn't even know, Levi knew that Eren was cut from the same cloth as that boy.

Now he was in his squad. Taking direct orders from him and Levi could truthfully say he'd follow him anywhere. Even down a titan's throat. All he wanted was to stay close to his new Captain, learn from him, maybe then someday he'd become a stronger person. Levi didn't mean to zone out but when he came back to earth, he found himself still staring at Eren Jaeger.

"Now," Commander Armin was saying. "The other branches don't believe in celebrating simply because you joined." Armin paused to send a glare sideways at Eren, who met the glare and threw back his own smug smile. As if he had won something. "Eren has already stolen a few kegs-" This earned a raised eyebrow from Levi and several bewildered faces from the others. "—And since Mikasa-" A glare was thrown at the girl. "—Had so helpfully reminded me that this is the Survey Corps and death by titan is no longer a 'what if' but in fact a 'when' for you now. We're going to utilize Eren's stolen kegs. The party starts after dinner. You're dismissed."

Levi could not believe what he had just heard.

Eren Jaeger was a conniving little shit.

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The squads were broken up into their own chores for the day and Eren's squad was on cleaning duty, Levi doubted his day could get any better. Eren made sure that they got every speck of dust there was, he even went so far as too make them clean the ceiling of spider webs. Levi almost found himself humming as he wiped down his last window. When he was done, it was so clear and free of streaks that it looked like there wasn't any glass in the frame to begin with.

"Okay," Hanji sighed as she stood up from her crouched position on the floor. "Levi, if you're done then this room is finished."

"I am." Levi said and pulled the bandana down from his face. Hanji linked her fingers together and raised her arms above her head, standing on her tiptoes, as she stretched out the kinks from being bent over and cleaning the corners of the room.

"I'm going down for dinner, do you mind telling Captain Eren that we're finished?" Levi didn't give a verbal answer. He simply walked out of the room and made his way down to the dungeon, where Eren had announced he'd be cleaning all day. Levi couldn't understand why they had one to begin with, but he was even more perplexed that the Captain had out right told everyone to leave him alone while he cleaned the massive area. By himself.

Levi's footsteps echoed as he descended the stone stairs. At the bottom he found Eren on his knees as he scrubbed the legs of a wooden table. The way the flickering light of the lantern hanging on the walls bounced on his deep brown hair made it shine and look as soft as silk. His tan skin looked warm and inviting as Levi traced the prominent curve of Eren's collarbone with his eyes.

Eren Jaeger was, without a doubt, attractive.

"Captain, we've finished all of the rooms upstairs." Levi was proud of himself for keeping his voice monotone.

"Good." Came Eren's short responds. Levi took a moment to rack his eyes over the spacious room. There was a bed, with hand cuffs hanging from the ceiling above it, in the corner behind a cage of iron bars, a dresser drawer, a single chair, and not much else. Even though it wasn't very personalized, it was clearly meant to act as someone's permanent bedroom.

"Is this where you're going to be sleeping?" Levi found himself asking. The raven immediately wanted to drop kick himself as soon as the question left his mouth. Of course the Captain wasn't going to be sleeping down here; he obviously had a room to himself just like all the other Cap—

"Yes."

"…." For once, Levi's mind stuttered to a standstill, his tongue turning to lead, and all he could do was turn on his heel and walk upstairs to the dining hall. Why the fuck would his Captain need handcuffs near his bed?

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The party had been going on for a while before Eren finally made it into the dining hall. Levi, Petra, Erwin, Hanji, Commander Armin, and Captain Mikasa where sitting at the same table. At first it had simply been the squad but then Armin had sat down at the head of the table, not at all put off that it was filled with Cadets. It didn't take long for Mikasa to join and even less time for her to start questioning the squad about Eren's whereabouts.

Levi grit his teeth as a sudden wave of unexplainable jealously shot down his body. The rumors about Mikasa being protective, perhaps overly so, had failed to be mentioned before now. He knew it wasn't fair, wasn't within his rights, but Levi was jealous at how Mikasa had been able to ask without so much as batting an eyelash, which lead the younger raven to believe that it was a common question that got thrown around. And if it was, like he suspected, then this woman was closer to Eren than Levi was strictly comfortable with.

He was pulled from his thoughts as a tray of food was set down beside his own and the object of his affections sat down. Right. Beside. Him. Levi leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in an attempt to keep his elation to himself. Maybe if he physically caged himself with his arms then it couldn't jump out in the form of a smile. His plan seemed to be working for the most part.

"Eren, are you okay?" Mikasa asked. Eren 'hmmed' in responds, having already taken a bite of bread and was in the middle of chewing it. "Where you in the dungeon this whole time?" At Eren's solid nod, Mikasa pulled her crimson scarf up over her mouth and her eyebrows drew together just enough for Levi to know that she was scowling. Eren leaned over the table and jabbed the slight crease with his index finger. Armin smiled with a small amused shake of his head as Mikasa brought her hand up to cover her forehead.

"Stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles." Eren jabbed playfully.

"Get a haircut." Mikasa shot back. Eren frowned slightly and raised a hand to his outgrown hair, running his fingers through it once before holding a piece of his bangs between his fingers.

"Sure, harp on me but not Armin." He mumbled.

"Eren, don't bring me into this!" Levi rose a thin eyebrow at the Commander's near squeak. Mikasa snapped her attention to the blonde, giving him a once over, before looking back to Eren.

"I can't imagine him with short hair." Mikasa shrugged, causing Armin to sigh in relief.

Hanji giggled. "So how long have you three known each other? With reactions like that, I'd say awhile."

"Met Mikasa when we were nine, knew Armin long before that, somehow managed to survive the fall of Shiganshina and through training and, well, here we are." Eren said before eating more of his soup.

"I didn't know you were from Shinganshina, Commander." Petra commented.

"Not many people do," Armin shrugged. "I get overshadowed by these two assholes." Mikasa's eyes widened and Eren started choking on his food. Levi patted his Captain's back, enjoying the warmth he could feel through his shirt as he did.

"That's not true, Armin!" Mikasa grabbed the blonde's hand and held it between hers. "We don't overshadow you. You're far too important for that!"

Armin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Jees, guys, take a joke once in a while,"

"That was a really terrible joke," Eren wheezed. "I think that was worse than Kirschtein's horse-face,"

"What did you call me, Jaeger!" Jean shouted from across the mess hall, his words where slurred slightly.

"I called you an incompetent bitch!" Eren shouted back without turning to face him. Around the room, all of the Captains and some of the senior soldiers either 'oohed' or mumbled 'Another Jaeger versus Kirschtein'. Armin reached into his jacket and pulled out a small notebook, flipping to a certain page, he then pulled out a small bottle of ink and a quill.

"Get eaten by a titan already!"

"Been there done that! Or don't you remember Trost?"

"Fuck you, Jaeger! I will piss on everything you love!"

"Have fun pissing on yourself!" As soon as that sentence left Eren's mouth, the room erupted into loud laughter. Even Levi started chuckling. Jean huffed and turned his back on them. Armin put a tally in his notebook before gently blowing on the ink and putting it, the ink, and the quill away. A woman with brownish red hair that was pulled back into a ponytail skipped over to their table and slung her arm around Eren's neck.

"Oh my god that was the best comeback I've heard from you in all the years." She said through her giggling.

"Thanks, Sasha, I'm glad my suddenly bloody and broken ego at having to resort to such a lie brings you pleasure," Eren took a sip of his tea. "I hope you get a stich in your side." He mumbled as more of an afterthought. Hanji opened her mouth to say something but a loud booming voice from the drinking competition in the corner suddenly shouted out.

"Every time the Suicidal Bastard of the 104th says 'Kill all the titans' we have to take a shot!" Which was followed by loud drunken agreements. Levi glanced around at the table, Mikasa looked unfazed while Armin had his face in his hands and Eren was smirking evilly. He raised his eyebrow, hoping that his silent question would be answered but Eren was too busy smirking and Armin couldn't see him.

"Bottoms up mother fucker." Eren muttered under his breath.

"Eren, please, I'm begging you as you're best friend, just ignore Reiner and don't do it." Armin moaned.

"Kill all the titans!" Eren shouted. There was a round of cheers as everyone took a shot.

"Why are you called the 'Suicidal Bastard of the 104th'?" Levi found himself asking. Sasha made a grab for Eren's food but the green-eyed man was clearly used to such things as he slid his bowl just out of her reach and used his arm to block her.

"The 104th was the training squad we were in. Back then I—Kill all the titans!—had some anger issues, still do actually, and I would—Kill all the titans!—get really angry and vengeful whenever a titan was even mentioned," Eren explained calmly while still avoiding Sasha's attempts at stealing his food. "Anyway—Kill the titans!—throughout training, Jean gave me a bunch of shit for wanting to join the Survey Corps and, after a few unpleasant situations in which I didn't give a damn about my own life—Kill all the titans!—and where my only goal was to save my friends, Jean started calling me a suicidal bastard and it stuck." Eren finally elbowed Sasha in the stomach, causing all the air from her lungs as she doubled over. With a whimper she turned and shuffled her way back to her own table.

Levi nodded and watched in amusement as Eren got the phrase out seven more times before Armin finally snapped at him.

"Stop it, Eren, you're not helping." Armin scolded softly, though it was ruined because he wasn't that intimidating to begin with.

"He's not trying to help." Mikasa stated calmly.

"Damn straight, I'm not. This is payback; I'm not going to stop until Reiner's been drunken under the table. Kill all the titans!"

Levi sighed deeply.

Eren Jaeger was not what he had been led to believe.

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**Thoughts on the hints of Eren still being a Titan shifter and kept under lock and key?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't know what I'm doing but since everyone (The four that have reviewed anyway) say I should do more, I did. ****Also, I wrote this in a day so I'm sorry if it's not as well done as the first.**

**To Aria: I tried doing a jealous Levi for you but I've never written someone as being jealous before so I don't know if I succeeded. **

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The day had started out with such promise. Levi had suffered through breakfast just as he had from Day One, gritting his teeth and biting his tongue until it bled as he watched Mikasa fuss over Eren, _his_ Captain, and blocking out Hanji's incessant chatter as Petra encouraged her. Levi had tried, really he did, to stay out of it but there was only so much one person can do to avoid the aberrant that was Hanji Zoe. Bile rose up in his throat as Mikasa, once again, reached over and touched Eren's face, which she had been doing all morning.

If Eren had some oatmeal stuck to the corner of his mouth, Mikasa would wipe it away, if his hair got in his face, she would tuck it behind his ear for him. Sometimes, during dinner, Eren would even let her play with his hair. Sick, gross, couple-y shit that Levi refused to admit he was jealous of. Months had passed since he had joined the Survey Corps. and his admiration for Captain Eren Jaeger had evolved into hero worship and then into a crush.

Now, after Levi had successfully escaped from breakfast and started practicing with his 3DMG, the raven was certain that some Higher Power was hell bent on making his life one giant joke. Levi hung upside down from a thick tree branch with one of the wires wrapped painfully around his leg. When he had shot out his hook it had embedded itself into a tree truck, like it was supposed to, but it hadn't released. Levi had been yanked off course as the wire snapped and, on reflex, he had shot out the other wire. However, he had been spinning as he fell, which was how the wire had wrapped around his leg.

Every time he tried to curl up and untangle himself, the wire would dig into his leg like a constricting snake and he'd have to fall back down again to make the pain stop. That had been at least half an hour ago. Levi hung with his arms crossed over his chest and his other leg folded behind his trapped one as if he was sitting cross-legged.

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"Levi!" Levi's gunmetal eyes snapped open as Eren's voice rang throughout the trees surrounding him. He opened his mouth to shout back when his captain came into view, from this distance all Levi could really see was how his hair was tossed around by the wind. "Levi, are you alright?" Eren asked once he came to a halt in front of his cadet.

"No." Levi deadpanned. It was beyond embarrassing but he wasn't going to lie to Eren. "Every time I try to move the wire digs into my leg," Eren's gaze flicked from Levi's eyes up to his leg and inspected the wire. "The other wire snapped, the hook is stuck inside a tree somewhere back there." Levi jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Ok." Eren nodded and then he dropped down and hooked one arm around Levi's chest and slowly lifted him until he was right side up again. Levi froze as he was pressed against Eren's strong chest, ignoring the wire as it tightened around his leg again. Eren was unnatural warm, it felt nice and made Levi's heart race just a little faster. The leather of his boot creaked as it was squeezed; Levi hissed which caused Eren to pause. If it wasn't for the pain then this wouldn't be so bad but as it was, Eren was jostling him around as he dug in his boot and pulled out a knife.

Levi took it from him and sawed the wire until it snapped. He fell against Eren completely when his leg was freed.

"You ok?" Eren asked. Levi handed him his knife back and rolled his ankle then tried to flex his toes.

"Yeah."

Embarrassed but ok.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, mom!"

Eren chuckled.

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When they got back, Levi immediately went about finding new wires and lacing them through his maneuver gear. Shoving the ruined ones aside. Sometime during Levi's inner melt down Erwin came in and sat down beside him.

"You'll never guess what I just found out," Erwin started casually.

"I don't care." Levi said.

"It's about Mikasa and Eren," Levi froze and grit his teeth to keep from lashing out at his friend. That didn't stop him from glaring at him though. Levi could tell that Erwin tried to suppress a shiver of fear from rolling up his spine but he failed and the smaller man saw it. "Well, I'm going to tell you anyway," Erwin leaned forward like he was about to share a secret and maybe he was. "They're siblings."

Levi's mind drew a blank.

Siblings.

Brother and sister.

All of Levi's fear that his captain was already taken left him in a rush and left him light headed. Levi sighed heavily and let his body fall onto the table, his forehead hitting the wooden table with a resounding 'thud' that made Erwin wince.

He was still jealous of those casual touches though.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still don't know what I'm doing but here *throws new chapter at you***

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Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, fuck!

Levi was panicking; his heart had long ago jumped into his throat and hadn't deemed it important enough to climb back down into his chest. The low groaning of the titans below them was a constant reminder of why the lump in his throat existed. Every now and then one of the taller ones would reach up and try to grab one of them only to lose a finger as Captain Jaeger lashed out at it. Levi took a small amount of comfort in the fact that his captain had murder blazing in his bright green eyes and that his hands didn't shake, didn't waver.

First mission outside the walls and this was the result, dangling over a cliff with titans below and above. Hanji had hit her head and was unconscious in Erwin's arms; Petra was so terrified Levi could see her legs trembling from where he was standing on an overhang, completely out of gas. Eren was protecting them from below and, Levi supposed, it was a small blessing that the titan's above them were smart enough not to lean over the edge for fear of falling to their deaths. On second thought, that was a survival instinct that Levi wished they didn't have. Life would be just a little bit easier if that were the case.

Another titan reached up. Eren swung and severed two of its fingers effortlessly, steam and blood rose from the stubs as the titan lowered its hand with a pained growl. He was incredible and fearless, alive and blinding. Levi gulped, the adrenaline in his system causing him to pant and sweat to dampen his hair. _Fear_, Levi realized, _I'm experiencing true fear._ The whir of Eren's gear snapped Levi's attention from the titans and over to him. Eren landed beside Levi and dropped to his knees without any preamble, the Captain's hands already on Levi's empty gas canisters before the raven had time to so much as open his mouth.

Quickly, and with the efficiency brought on by repeating the same motion countless times, Eren switched their canisters.

"Captain?" Levi was semi impressed with himself that his voice didn't shake as much as his knees did. Eren stood and clapped a hand on Levi's small shoulder, the damage from years of starvation and malnutrition were hard to heal even in the Survey Corps. Eren looked down at Levi for a long moment, something like sadness swirling in the green depths of his eyes. Levi felt his heart sink. He'd seen that look so many times before, though this was the first time seeing it from Eren, it was the look that someone wore when they were about to do something that would either change the way you thought of them forever or when their next actions would have such steep consequences that it almost wasn't worth it.

But what other choices were there? The low groans from the titans, both from below and above, filled the heavy silence. Levi grit his teeth, his hands tightened around the hilts of his swords, as he lifted his chin defiantly. The answer was none. Whatever happened next they would just have to follow Eren with nothing more than blind obedience. Eren smiled at the sudden determination shining in those gunmetal eyes. He gave his Cadet's shoulder a brief squeeze before dropping his hand and turning to face Erwin and Hanji.

"Stay high, follow at a distance, and do not try to engage. I won't be able to compensate for you if you get in the way." Eren didn't turn away from them until Erwin and Hanji both nodded at him. Taking a deep breath, Eren sheathed his swords and then unwrapped his right hand from its usual white bandages. Levi's eyebrow rose in confusion. With the air of someone walking to their death, a sort of resignation, Eren bit into his hand until his teeth sank deep enough to draw blood.

With his teeth deep in his own flesh, Eren stepped off the ledge and fell. Levi started forward, his mouth already opening in a shout, when a blinding flash of light forced him to shield his eyes and titan steam, hot enough to leave his uniform completely soaked, engulfed the entire area. There was the sound of feet hitting the ground, hard enough that Levi felt the vibrations of it travel into his own feet, followed by a roar that was so loud Levi had to duck his head. The roar had two parts to it that made ice run up and down his spine.

The roar was animalistic, deep, angry, but underneath that he could hear Eren's own battle cry that had become familiar to Levi. Every fight with Captain Kristein, spar or not, had started with Eren wordlessly shouting in frustration. When Levi looked up, he froze, eyes impossibly wide, and a new, stronger, fear gripped him. One that literally paralyzed him. The steam cleared to reveal a 15 meter class titan with brown hair, long and messy just like Eren's, fighting the other titans. It wasn't possible. Titan shifters were a rumor the Military Police had started and used to attack the Survey Corps, mainly Eren, in an attempt to syphon support from them. This shouldn't be possible! But it was.

Levi quickly shook himself. It didn't matter what was possible and what wasn't, the only thing that mattered was what _was_. Eren _was_ a titan shifter. He _was_ fighting for them. He _was_ clearing a path for them to follow. Levi jerked his gaze over to his team mates, only to see them shaking and sweating, their breath coming out in hard puffs of air as they panted.

"Erwin, Hanji!" Erwin snapped out of his fear quicker than Levi thought he would. The blonde visibly shook himself before looking over to Levi but Hanji was still scared stiff. "Hanji!" When no answer came, Levi picked up a pebble and threw it at her. The small rock bounced off her hip and shocked her into action. Hanji shot forward to follow Eren the titan. Erwin took a moment to shift Petra around before he took off as well. Levi brought up the rear.

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Levi never thought that in a thousand years he would be standing in Commander Arlert's office for _this_. For insubordination? Sure, that seemed likely but not this, never this. But, now that he thought about it, everything was starting to make a scary amount of perfect sense. The handcuffs in Eren's basement, why he kept his hands wrapped in the whitest bandages he could find, a color that would catch his attention if he ever lifted his hands to his face, why he never cut his hair, and why his body temperature was so high. Although Levi would bet that the hair and the bandages were his own self-imposed reminders that kept him in line.

"Whatever you saw out beyond the walls today shall remain out there," It was hard to see the Armin that Levi had seen thus far in the seething Commander Arlert that stood before him now. His hands were firmly planted on his deck, documents be damned, as he leaned forward and all but hissed at them. "I'm issuing this gag order because I shall be dead before I allow my best friend, your captain, the man that saved your asses today despite the risks, hanging from the gallows' pole all because his squad couldn't conquer their misplaced fear and babbled like bumbling idiots to the wrong people. I'm not saying you have to like him and if after today you have lost all respect for him, then so be it, however you will remember that Eren Jaeger _is_ and shall _remain_ as your captain and as such you _will_ continue to obey him. If nothing else, respect the uniform. Understand?"

Petra took a deep breath. "Believe me, Sir, that is all I have respect for."

Levi clenched his hands into fists so hard he felt his knuckles creak. He scowled so deeply his teeth were bared and his gunmetal eyes narrowed so hard he could feel his eyebrows twitching from the strain as they met in the middle of his forehead. "You fucking ungrateful piece of shit," Levi snarled at her. Before anyone could react, the young raven's arms shot out as he grabbed Petra by the collar of her jacket and hauled her forward and up, forcing her to stand on her tiptoes so that they could see eye to eye.

"Levi!" Erwin didn't shout but the alarm in his voice was obvious. Hanji kept her silence as she stared off in the middle distance. Vaguely, Levi registered that Erwin's hand, strong, restricting and squeezing, was suddenly on his shoulder. Petra's eyes were wide with shock, no doubt because she had somehow gotten it into her head that Levi, her crush and yes he was aware, would always side with her because he was Levi and he was perfect and she was also perfect so it made perfect sense that they would be perfect together. Levi scoffed, this was why he hated little girls, they loved the idea of someone instead of that someone's actual character and now that he was acting hostile towards her, she wasn't focused on _why_ only that he _was_.

Petra was still innocent enough to worry over petty things such as that. Levi wasn't, hadn't been for a long time. On the streets of that hellish underground city, it didn't matter how much of a monster someone in your group was, the only thing that mattered was survival. Eren had already proven that he cared very deeply for his squad, the satisfied smiles when they mastered a difficult maneuver, the encouraging pats on their shoulders when they were face down in the dirt, the open ear that would always find time to listen to their problems if they needed to unload. Eren wasn't their commanding officer, he was their friend. Their survival wasn't in question; the monster was friendly because he was their friend, their mentor, their _something_.

"Levi, you're hurting me." Petra's voice shook. No he wasn't, Levi knew how to hold someone in a choke hold using nothing more than their shirt, if anything Petra was scared of him and was trying to think of something that would make him let go. The classic 'you're hurting me' would be enough to snap anyone else from their rage but not Levi. If he was truly hurting her then the only thing he had to say was: Good!

"He didn't have to," Levi growled. "Captain Jaeger didn't have to save us—save you—he could have let us die on that cliff and simply written us off in his mind as 'newbies die quickly, anyway'. But he didn't, he stuck around and risked more than his life protecting us. And now you're going to stand there and tell me that after all of that, the only thing you still have respect for is his fucking uniform?" Levi's hold on Petra's jacket tightened until the leather creaked. Erwin's hand tightened on his shoulder in responds.

"Before you to try to paint Eren as a monster inside that head of yours, I want you to remember that if he wanted us dead we would be. If Eren had truly wanted us dead then he wouldn't have pushed us until we couldn't see straight when we trained, wouldn't have taught us how to function in combat when we were drove to our limits.

If Eren truly didn't care about us then he wouldn't have encouraged us, wouldn't have learned how each of us like our tea and he sure as hell wouldn't have made it for us, either. Before you paint him as a monster just remember that that monster saved your worthless hide and that before this war is over we will all be monsters." With that, Levi dropped Petra as if she had burned him.

Turning on his heel and smacking Erwin's hand off his shoulder in one smooth motion, Levi stalked to the door and didn't bother waiting long enough to see if Petra needed help getting off the floor. The door made a very satisfying '_bang_' that echoed off the stone walls as he left.

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Four days. Levi hadn't seen hide nor hair of Captain Jaeger for the past four days and it was driving him up the wall. That first day, directly after storming out of the Commander's office, Levi had gone on a cleaning rampage. It was the only thing that could take the edge off. The second day he had been on the training grounds all day, Erwin had joined him at midday but Levi elected to ignore him as he worked himself until he physically couldn't stand anymore and Erwin had to carry him back. On the third day, Hanji finally started talking again.

But now she wouldn't shut up. She talking about everything and nothing, Levi supposed he couldn't blame her but it was starting to get annoying. Petra was still avoiding him, which Levi could honestly say didn't bother him. So long as she got her act together long enough that they could still work as a team, like how Jean and Eren could put their frienemy grudge on hold, then that was fine. Now, on the fourth day, Levi was leaning against the wall as he struggled to get his bleeding knuckles wrapped. He'd already cleaned the blood off the wall he'd punched but it was a little harder to get his shaking fingers to work with something smaller then a dishrag.

Levi cursed under his breath as his finger's slipped again, the movement broke whatever clotting had slowed the bleeding and made the blood run down his hands in thick drops again. He was about to give up and ask Hanji when a pair of tan hands with bandages of their own appeared in his line of vision and gentle took his hand. Eren unwrapped Levi's hand to assess the damage himself.

"What did you hit, Erwin?" Eren asked in an attempt at humor. He tsked as he rewrapped Levi's hand. Levi flinched when Eren pulled the bandage a little too tightly but he refused to vocalize his pain. Eren's hands were warm and they gentled after that. Levi stole a glance up at him from underneath his bangs. Eren looked calm, but the set of his shoulders told a different story. He was on edge, the type of nervous you get when you're unsure of your welcome.

"A stone wall," Levi said as he looked back down at his hand.

Eren paused for a moment before he resumed. "I was close." He muttered. When he was done, Eren carefully let go of Levi's hand and reached for the other one. The raven had done an even poorer job wrapping that one. Eren sucked in a sharp breath through his nose when he saw Levi's dislocated knuckle. Levi watched as he carefully adjusted his hold on his hand, when he glanced up Eren was already watching him. His eyes pinned Levi in place against the wall.

A silent question.

A firm, yet slow and hesitant nod.

Then Eren jerked Levi's knuckle back into place with a loud grating crack. Levi's back arched slightly as he sucked in a deep breath, eyes growing wide, as pain ran up his arm and into his elbow. They kept eye contact until Levi settled back with a loud exhale. It was only after he had blinked the pain away that Eren, very gently and very carefully, rewrapped his hand before he let go and let Levi's hand fall back to his side.

The young raven immediately missed the feel of his Captain's hands, warm and rough from the calluses, strong yet careful.

Several emotions were running through Eren's eyes. The most prominent of which was fear. Fear of what? Being hated? Was he waiting for Levi to suddenly remember he was a titan shifter and lash out at him? Levi stood straighter, squared his shoulders, and saluted his captain. The fear in Eren's eyes melted away into something gentler, warmer, something Levi couldn't really place. Maybe it was relief.

"Welcome back, Eren." Levi said. Eren's shoulders slumped a little and he smiled, clearly picking up on the usage of his name instead of his title of 'Captain'. Levi still saw him as his friend instead of his commanding officer, human instead of titan, and that, Levi could tell, made all the difference.

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**Why Petra? Because in the spoon scene, that we all know and got a kick out of, between Petra and Levi, she was the one who verbally expressed her fear and 'mistrust' towards Eren. While Levi had _his back_ turned towards him, which we all know you don't do to your enemy, and was basically guarding him. So that's why I used Petra. Hope that turned out alright, I had my own miniature rant about stupid little girls in there and that's actually how I feel about the naive anime girls with puppy crushes. They are so annoying.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I think we can all agree that this took me too long to write and it's also depressingly short. Well, you can thank Angelmv1999 for insulting me into submission. **

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Levi bolted up in bed. The breath he had taken was stuck in his throat and the air burned his lungs as they expanded past their normal limits. Levi forced himself to hold it, concentrating on the mild pain rather than the panic his nightmares instilled. Slowly, almost carefully, he exhaled through his nose, his shoulders slumping as he deflated. The barracks may have been dark but Levi would recognize Erwin's soft snores anywhere, even if they were on the other side of the room by the door. What little moonlight that managed to seep through the window illuminated the dark shapes of the bunk beds and the cadets within them.

It was such a small thing but even that small amount of light helped ground Levi to the waking world. However, that didn't stop his heart from beating so hard that Levi was surprised it was still in his chest. With a resigned sigh, he pushed the blanket off and stood from his bunk. The cold wooden floor didn't bother him but it did make him frown in mild annoyance. On silent feet, Levi crossed the room, taking care to step over Mike's boots and out the door. He took a brief moment to be thankful that the door's hinges had been oiled the day before and didn't squeak as he shut it behind him.

The hallway was colder than the barracks, lacking the combined body heat of so many people, and pitch black, not one torch burned, though Levi knew there was one bolted to the wall every three meters. Nothing disturbed the suddenly oppressive silence, the only sound to be heard was Levi's own slow breathing. It wasn't often that the young cadet felt small but standing there in darkness so deep it felt like he stood at the edge of the world, Levi felt every centimeter of his height. He felt small and alone even though his squad, and all the others, were sleeping behind the door pressed against his back.

Levi took a deep breath and let it out before he shook his head at his own silliness, his nightmares always managed to put him in a self-pitying mood. Pushing himself off the door, Levi walked in whatever random direction his feet decided to take him in. It wasn't long before found himself at the bottom of the staircase that led to his favorite spot in all of the small, walled-off world Humanity lived in. The pitch blackness that the stairs led up to was even darker than the one Levi currently stood in.

There was no light, not even the mind's imagination of it, it was an all consuming darkness; an abyss. If Levi was going to be poetic about it, he'd say it was a staircase to nowhere, but that wasn't quite right. It didn't lead to 'nowhere' it often led to his own version of 'peace and quiet'. It was where he went to sit by himself and think when he needed to get away from everyone. Levi took the stairs slowly, being careful not to trip or stub a toe. He didn't imagine either would feel good. It got colder the farther up he went, Levi's feet were growing numb with it.

The wooden door at the top was, as usual, unlocked and opened silently on well oiled hinges when Levi pushed on it. Light from the moon and stars illuminated the rooftop and made the trees look like they were glowing silver. It was late enough that only the crickets were awake. It was the kind of peacefulness that made him wonder at the vastness of the world, for if it could exist at this depth inside a world that was ugly and cruel, then where else could it exist?

The wind ruffled his hair and tugged at his clothes. Already, the last tendrils of Levi's nightmare were dissolving and being carried away, leaving nothing but a deep seated sense of calm behind. Levi stepped away from the door and up to the edge of the roof, leaning his forearms atop the wall that ran along the perimeter as he gazed up at the stars.

Levi wasn't sure how long he stood there for before he felt another presence, warm and taller, come up beside him. When Levi looked, he was surprised to see Captain Eren leaning on the wall beside him. Eren's long shaggy hair was even more of a bird's nest, it looked like he had ran his fingers through it one too many times. The moonlight caught his vibrant green eyes and made them look like dancing constellations, the shadows on his face and neck made him look darkly handsome with a hint of mystery.

Levi looked away and crossed his arms tightly around himself, his heart picking up speed again but for an entirely different reason. Eren was so warm, Levi could feel his body heat seeping through his shirt, into his skin, and chasing the cold night air away even though Eren was at a polite distance.

"Couldn't sleep?" Eren asked. Levi made a noise that was neither a comment nor a denial. "I noticed your team work with Petra has gotten better. Did she forgive you, then?"

_Yes_.

"I don't really care if she did or didn't, so long as she can put it aside and work when it's needed." Levi said. The cadet didn't know what he was expecting from his captain, maybe a disappointed look or a small scolding, but it wasn't for Eren to give him a small, understanding, smile and shrugged.

"Fair enough." He said. Levi stood in stunned silence and let it stretch until he was sure he could trust his voice again.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, why are you awake at this hour?" Levi asked, turning his head to actually fully face his captain. Eren was already watching him. Having those vibrant eyes looking at him that intently made Levi wish they would look at him like that in a completely different situation. Levi swallowed thickly.

"That's easy, I'm still awake because when I go to sleep I have to be chained to the bed. It's one of the conditions that Armin, as Commander, had to agree too if I was to stay with the Corps." Eren said.

Levi's hands clenched into fists until his knuckles turned white, "Why do you let them treat you like a monster?" the young raven could still remember the look in Eren's eyes when he was a titan. There had been bloodlust, but for the titans instead of humans, and every time Eren had looked behind himself to check if his squad was keeping pace, they would become gentle and then turn into hot coals of determination. "You never looked like one to me."

"And what does a monster look like?" Eren asked in a near whisper. Levi shrugged helplessly and then gestured to himself.

"Did you know that I've killed people before?" It was a bitter, rhetorical, question. Levi looked away before he had a chance to see Eren's inevitable look of disgust. In the world they lived in, human life was precious, and to take one was the very definition of a monstrous deed. Levi didn't think he could bare seeing it on Eren but he needed his captain to understand that Levi had never considered him a monster. Even if it meant risking Eren's hatred.

It never came.

"I killed two men when I was nine," Eren said, voice still a whisper. Levi's head snapped up to stare at Eren with wide eyes. "I don't regret it, either."

Levi could see that. Those forest green eyes remained resolute.

"Everyone has a monster inside of them," Eren's voice turned hard, like he was stating simple fact that Levi couldn't argue against. "Armin's is sly, clever, and doesn't like to come out very often, your's is on a leash, Erwin's is still asleep, Mikasa's is extremely protective and violent, and mine is in a cage. Although, it's still nice to unleash the beast every once in awhile."

"Your monster doesn't frighten me." Levi insisted, his eyes narrowing into a silent challenge for Eren to try and either tell him why it should or that he was being stupid and naive.

Eren smiled gently and brushed his fingertips along the ends of Levi's bangs, the rough slide of callused skin along his brow caused Levi's eyes to flutter, "I know."

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**Constructive feed back is always welcome. I want to get better as a writer so don't hold back.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I think I finally know what I'm doing, guys! And thanks for sticking with me for this long \o/**

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Ever since the night on the roof, Levi and Eren seemed to come to some mutual understanding that bridged a gap in their dynamic of captain and subordinate. Levi hadn't known how big that gap had truly been until now. Eren looked out for his entire squad but, somehow, he seemed to be paying more attention to Levi, not that he minded. The raven had asked if Eren would teach him some of the more complex 3D maneuvers, partially because he really did want to learn but the bigger part was that he wanted an excuse to spend more time with the captain. So it came to be that Eren and Levi would practice in the surrounding forest after dinner and would stay until either Levi grew to exhausted to continue or Eren decided they'd done enough.

Levi wasn't stupid, he knew that Eren wanted to train only at night because then he had an excuse not to be chained to his bed like a rabid dog, but that was fine with Levi because it also meant that it would be _just_ the two of them without the risk of someone intruding on them. Levi's jealousy was a low burning thing that would sit and simmer until it built up and exploded. It wasn't something Levi was too keen on happening and so he delighted in their late night training and secretly lorded it over the other cadets when they openly grumbled when he out did them all during group training.

Levi never saw the smug tilt to Eren's smile every time it happened.

There was, however, one change in the squad that Levi could have done without. Something had awoken inside of Hanji that caused her to become fascinated with the titans. It had happened during an expedition; Levi's second. It had gone without a hitch, thankfully, but when Eren and Levi had spun together and decapitated a titan, Hanji had landed next to the decomposing corpse and kicked the head.

It flew into the air and landed two meters away.

It was in that moment that Levi saw a spark go off in Hanji's eyes and she had never been the same since. At dinner she would lean over into the Commander's personal space and literally pin him to his chair as she extracted all the information he knew about the titans from him, Mikasa and Eren threw Armin pitying looks but never raised a finger to help him. When Hanji then turned her attention to Eren, Armin returned the favor and let him suffer.

That night, Eren's squad learned that normal titans and deviant titans smelled differently from each other and that they never stayed out during the day because they got most of their energy from the sun; kind of like a plant. Of course all of this was solely based on what Eren himself felt when he was a titan but that only seemed to excite Hanji even more.

After the first time that Hanji had interrogated Eren throughout the entire night, literally, Levi made it a point to leave whenever Hanji started questioning the Commander and Captain about titans again, Erwin usually followed him and they would practice 3D maneuvers or play poker together.

.

.

.

.

"You're doing it again." Erwin said from his bunk. He was sitting cross legged with a book in his lap. Levi ignored him and scrubbed harder at the windowsill. There had been a very thin layer of dust on it that reminded Levi of the streets and it had sent him into a mild panic induced cleaning rage. He had already cleaned the entire barracks twice but, for some reason, he couldn't manage to get the windowsill clean. Levi scrubbed harder, the linen of the rag he was using snagged against the wood grain and left behind a small piece of thread.

It went ignored.

Levi shut out the world as he cleaned, disregarding Erwin every time he tried to get his attention. It just wasn't clean enough, why couldn't he get it clean? Somewhere in the back of his mind Levi was aware that Erwin had left. Good.

It wasn't clean.

It wasn't clean.

It wasn't clean.

Why wasn't it clean?

Levi moved off to the other side of the room in an attempt to forget about it but he came back to the windowsill almost immediately.

Filthy.

Dirty.

Dirt.

Filth.

Dust.

Dirt.

Dirt.

Filth.

Filthy.

Vomit.

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

Filthy.

Get it cleaned!

Another pair of hands; larger, tanner, with no scars, suddenly came down on the windowsill and startled Levi out of his own head. He knew those hands, knew them so well that he didn't need to raise his head to know that Eren was standing beside him with another wet rag in hand and was helping him clean an already spotless windowsill. Erwin, Hanji, and Petra were busying themselves with the rest of the room. Eren's warm, almost too warm, hand settled itself on Levi's shoulder, prompting the cadet to look at him.

The Captain said nothing but his eyes were gentle with understanding before they went to Levi's hands. They were shaking. Levi took a deep breath and leaned into Eren's side, taking comfort in simple human contact, it also didn't hurt that Eren was always so warm. The sound of light conversation and movement behind them was like a punch in the gut. The squad might not understand what was happening or why, but they didn't ask questions, simply got to work helping Levi clean.

Eren's thumb was moving, rubbing light circles into Levi's shoulder. He leaned more heavily against his captain and closed his eyes. The sudden wave of relief that Levi was _here_, safe and surrounded by his squad, instead of _there_ made his knees weak. With his free hand, Eren went back to cleaning the windowsill, bumping Levi's hand out of the way gently until it fell back against his side.

Levi basked in the sense of being safe, _protected_, tucked against Eren's side, which he was quickly and secretly starting to suspect might be the best place in the world to be, before he forced himself to stand on his own and went back to cleaning. He left the windowsills to Eren and took the corners of the room.

Eren's squad cleaned all day, with no complaints, only teasing conversation and a secretive smile on the squad's shortest member. They cleaned the barracks, the kitchen, the dining room, and swept the courtyard.

Afterwards, Levi went back to the barracks to change into clothes with less dirt on them. It escaped his notice but the piece of thread had been removed.

At dinner, Levi gave Eren's foot a gentle nudge under the table.

Eren returned it.

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.

.

.

A week later found Levi frozen in the doorway to Captain Eren's office, the reports in his hand firmly forgotten about. Eren sat in his chair with a towel laying over his shoulders and a disgruntled pout on his face. Levi hadn't known it was possible for a _man_ to look _adorable_, much less Eren, but he was being proven very wrong. Mikasa stood behind Eren running her fingers through his hair, a pair of scissors lay on his desk.

"Will you just cut it already?" Eren asked.

"I can't. It's just so pretty." The corners of Mikasa's eyes were crinkled as she smiled underneath her scarf. Levi had to work to keep his grip loose so that he didn't ruin the reports. Logically, he knew that Mikasa was Eren's sister but did he have to sit there with his shirt off? Levi could see the tendons in Eren's neck from where he was standing in the doorway. They framed the Captain's throat enticingly and led down to his collar bones, bronze from the sun. Levi had a sudden urge to lick them.

Eren's chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm and Levi had to force his gaze from lingering on his nipples but found himself with another problem. Eren's torso was nothing but muscle. The planes of his abs looked hard but not unyielding. Levi wondered what they would feel like under his hands if he was allowed to touch. Clearing his throat, Levi tore his eyes from Eren's body and glued them to his eyes.

Eren and Mikasa stopped bickering and looked up at him.

Eren's smile did things to Levi's gut that he wasn't sure he could handle.

"Squad Leader Jean's report, sir." Levi said, being very careful to keep his voice monotone.

"Jean's?" Eren's eyebrow inched higher on his forehead and a look of mild annoyance darkened his face. "What the hell is he thinking, ordering _my_ subordinates to do his chores? He has his own and you're free to tell him as much the next time he gives you a report, Levi."

Levi shrugged. The pissing match between Eren and Jean was something Levi had gotten use to fairly quickly but, even so, seeing and hearing his Captain calling them _his_ was nice. Levi might not be Eren's friend, or his lover, but he was _something_ of his. Now he only had to convince himself that it was enough. Somehow, Levi was able to force his knees to unlock and took the few steps necessary to close the distance between himself and Eren's desk. He put Jean's report in the small box for incoming mail, saluted both captains and left.

The walk down to the barracks was agony and when he finally got the door closed behind him, Levi tore his caravet from his neck and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt before he flopped face first into his mattress.

This isn't fair. Levi thought as he kept his hands firmly away from his belt.

Puberty and the raging hormones that came along with it could suck it.

Or...maybe Eren could do it for him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Update for FlamingFyre**

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The next time Levi saw Eren, his hair was still long and hanging in his face. Levi raised a thin eyebrow but Eren only offered him a long-suffering sigh and a shrug as they passed each other in the hallway. Levi slowed to a stop and glanced back over his shoulder. Eren's hair hadn't grown any longer but Levi imagined that it was just long enough for a very short pony tail. When he tried to picture his captain with one he immediately recoiled from the thought.

A pony tail would only confine his hair to one spot, never allowing it to flow freely nor to kiss the tops of his shoulders or, worst yet, it wouldn't fall across his nape and lead a certain pair of gun-metal grey eyes down to broad shoulders, a strong back, further down to a thin waist and then, finally, to that tight ass in equally tight white pants.

Levi jerked his eyes forward again and continued walking, loosening his caravet as he went.

.

.

.

.

Somewhere deep down, Levi could admit to himself that he enjoyed going beyond the walls. He wasn't afraid of dying; death came for all, and Eren had trained him well. He was confident and self-aware enough to know that he could overcome and survive a great deal. It was a type of freedom within itself. Maybe Jean was wrong and it wasn't Eren that was the suicidal bastard but Levi himself or maybe this was how Eren felt; unafraid yet still cautious and mindful of his environment..

It made sense, after all the captain could go toe-to-toe with any titan, literally, and win in no small part because he was the highest ranked in hand-to-hand combat. Even Mikasa lost to Eren more often then she won. Levi had originally expected that Mikasa had been going easy on Eren but that wasn't the case, the titans moved like mindless beasts; they simply grabbed and swatted at things. Eren had adjusted his fighting into unpredictable movements to better fight the deviant titans.

Levi had asked him once how he managed that. Eren had smiled and said that he attacked at random, that he didn't think about what his next move was, he simply did it; even if he was striking at an area of his opponent that was already being guarded.

No, Levi couldn't say he was afraid of the world beyond the walls nor was he truly that afraid of the titans either. Most feared the titans the same way they feared the dark, when they couldn't see them but knew they were out there. Levi never allowed himself to fear what he couldn't see, if the titan wasn't in front of him then he didn't dwell on them, and it wasn't the dark that people feared but the imaginary monsters that the darkness hid.

Right now, however, tangled in the wires of the dead cadet who had panicked and flew into him and struggling to breathe, Levi could admit to himself that he was very afraid. One hand was pinned under the wire that was wrapped around his neck and he was able to push against it and loosen the wire some but his other arm had been wrenched backwards; his elbow firmly trapped almost on top of his spine.

It forced his upper body to twist in the same direction but the wires around his legs were pulling him in a different direction. Levi was hanging with his side to the ground and his face to the sky while one leg was completely free of the wire but the other wasn't so lucky and held him firmly in place. Levi had stopped struggling a while ago, the wires refused to give and bit into him unforgivingly every time he so much as twitched.

There were black spots starting to form around the edges of his vision, he had gotten separated from his squad, there was a dead girl not that far from him, and he couldn't reach the knife in his boot. Levi wasn't even sure if anyone was going to come back for him or not; labeled as just another MIA. Yes, Levi could freely admit it now, he was afraid. Death wasn't a new concept for him, life on the streets often ended with a knife to the gut or a rock to the head and death via titan was notoriously quick.

There would be nothing quick about this; slowly but undeniably choking to death with more than enough time to reflect on life; the what-ifs, the could-have-beens, the regrets and the woulda-coulda-shouldas. Levi could feel his eyes water as he gasped and fought for air, desperate for it, but no matter how hard he tried to expand his throat or push his chest out to give his lungs more room, his harsh gasping slowly faded into quiet wheezing.

The spots of sun that filtered through the leaves fractured and moved in impossible angles and arches, sometimes blotting out the green of the leaves completely and sometimes filtering through them and making them stand out like small shards of the purest emerald to have ever existed. Levi wasn't sure why he was suddenly noticing but if this was to be his last sight, he supposed that it was a very beautiful one.

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.

.

Eren couldn't remember the last time he had been this frantic, maybe it was during the breech, the first time he'd seen the Colossal Titan but he wasn't sure. This was bad, Levi hadn't been present when the squad had stopped to take a break on a large tree branch, and Eren knew the small raven wouldn't run away, not out here, not ever, that just wasn't who he was. He had been bringing up the rear, the last Eren knew of him.

Levi's disappearance churned the guilt that sat in Eren's stomach. He should have heard Levi over the rushing sound of the wind in his ears if he had screamed when he disappeared, should have looked back to check on his squad more often, should have done _something_. Eren assigned Erwin as the squad leader, ordered them all to keep going back to the rendezvous point and then took off in search for Levi. Eren refused to believe that Levi was injured or dead. That kid was smart enough not to do something stupid, Eren had seen him play poker with Erwin and win the blonde's horse from him; he hadn't been cheating either.

Levi was the quiet type that stood in the background, but wasn't afraid to call people out on their bullshit with a few insults thrown in, and observed, pieced the puzzle together, analyzed it and then acted. He drunk tea when he was anxious, too much dirt and grime made him have panic attacks, he read for the practice it gave him instead of the enjoyment of it, when he shuffled Erwin's card deck he rigged it so that the ace of diamonds eventually came into his hand simply because it was his favorite card. Levi didn't smile often but he wasn't harsh; 'Resting Bitch Face' Hanji called it. He liked flowers but hated dogs because they were too easily trained and mindless in their need to please.

Eren wasn't ready to see the light go out in those grey eyes.

"_Why can't you just admit that you want to fuck him?"_ Armin had asked one evening when the Shiganshina trio, as Sasha had dubbed them a long time ago, where sitting in Mikasa's room and just enjoying each other's company.

"_Because that's called 'sexual harassment'." _Mikasa had said, completely blank faced.

Eren couldn't deny that he did want in Levi's pants but he didn't want him for his body, he wanted him because it was _Levi_.

And he needed to find him.

Right.

Now!

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.

.

The familiar sound of the maneuver gear wiring and the 'sshhhh' of the gas being used roused Levi from his hazy acceptance. The lack of oxygen was making him so very tired but he forced himself to push against the wire around his throat a little harder, ignoring the harsh bit of it digging into the back of his neck and into his hand as he began to struggle again.

There wasn't enough air in his lungs for Levi to call out but there was enough to struggle hard enough for the wires to twang and knock against the dead cadet's gear, the sun glinted off of the metal and created erratic flashes.

"LEVI!" Eren shouted, more like screamed if Levi was being honest. He couldn't turn his head but he could hear Eren's gear as he got closer and closer and then the wire around Levi's neck suddenly wasn't there anymore and he was falling. The wire around his torso snapped, sending him into an uncontrollable roll, and then the wire around his leg disappeared as suddenly as the one around his neck had.

Levi wasn't sure exactly how it happened but he found himself, gasping and coughing in Eren's lap as they rest on the forest floor. Eren doesn't wait for him to get his breath back completely before he's man handling Levi's caravet from his throat to take a look at the abused skin. The piece of cloth had saved the raven's throat from being cut open, his hand had not been so lucky, but there was still a deep purple indent where the wire had rested, the skin around it was an angry red.

Very carefully, Eren tilted Levi's head this way and that to get a look at the back of his neck, where the purple is a shade darker but not bleeding. Before Levi could get a word in edgewise, Eren hugs him, resting his face in Levi's shoulder. Levi wasn't sure which one of them was shaking and he didn't really care as he slumped forward into his captain and let Eren's body heat soak into him. It was familiar and calming and the difference in the feel of Eren's harder body pressed against Levi's brought with it a sense of safety.

It helped ground him until his breathing was back to normal, if a little shaky. Only then did Eren draw back. Levi felt exhausted and didn't move as Eren reached into his pocket and fished out one of the bandages meant for his hands. He remained limp and let Eren wrap his neck, though he didn't know if it would actually help or not and if he wanted to imagine that the feeling of Eren pressing a quick, feather light kiss to the side of Levi's abused throat before he passed out was real, then that was no one's business but his own.

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**As always, constructive criticism is helpful.**


	7. Chapter 7

**To FlamingFyre: No worries, be as rude as you want. I need people to kick me into gear most of the time xD**

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The girl's name had been Kelly and Levi almost felt obligated to remember it, if only because he had been the only one there when she died. Apparently the squad she was assigned to had run into a deviant titan, she had panicked, fled, ran into Levi and snapped her own neck when she ran head first into a tree.

As far as deaths went...It was stupid and pointless. Two things that Levi hated. He could forgive her for panicking, he really could, and he could forgive her for almost taking him with her, that one was harder but still within his capabilities. What Levi couldn't forgive was the fact that she had accidently killed herself. Kelly had left her friends and family behind to cry their guts out over an empty grave.

Eren hadn't been able to carry both Levi and a corpse but he had taken the chest patch off of Kelly's jacket. It wasn't much but it was something. Levi firmly believed that the person's memory was more important than their belongings anyway. It was only after Levi had woken up in his bunk and Hanji sitting with him that he learned that Eren hadn't ridden back to the walls on his horse, instead he had sat by Levi in the wagon.

Now, though, Levi refused to stay down simply because his throat hurt. He hid the bandage under his caravet as he went about the castle, doing the chores each squad was assigned and training. Petra tried to mother him, apparently his near death experience had made her forget the fact that she was supposed to be mad at him for his harsh words in Commander Arlert's office, and had tried to insist that he sit on the sidelines and rest.

Women were weird.

Holding a grudge better than a cat one second and then in the next second they somehow turn into a hen and start mothering you. Levi rested his chin in his hand and wondered if Mikasa ever mothered Armin like she did Eren. Probably. Only the Commander took better care of himself so Mikasa didn't have to very often. The same couldn't be said for the Captain.

That man fought with too much of his heart.

Actually, now that Levi thought of it, Eren did everything with too much of his heart behind it. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing but Levi worried that Eren's heart wasn't big enough to stretch much further. Levi turned the page in his book and tried to focus on it but Erwin's recommendations were always dry and extremely factual. They weren't to Levi's tastes but he didn't really have anything better to do at the moment. So, here he was, in the damn library reading about something called the 'sea' and how there were seven of them, apparently. The seven seas were also, very apparently, different from the 'oceans'.

Of which, there were five.

Whatever.

They were all fucking giant bodies of water that Levi didn't fully believed existed. Then again...he had seen those big ass trees so why not big ass ponds?

The world was weird that way. Weirder than women, even.

Sometimes it was a bad weird but sometimes it was a good weird, kind of like how ever since Levi nearly hanged, Eren had gotten more...attentive? Protective? Affectionate? Levi didn't truly know what it was but it was _something_ along those lines. Eren had let Levi return to the squad's activities as he wished, trusting that the young cadet knew his true limits and wasn't overestimating himself.

That didn't mean, however, that Levi had escaped Eren's own special brand of mother henning. It was easier to tolerate than Petra's because Levi _wanted_ it but at the same time it was problematic because Levi _wanted it_! He wanted everything that Eren was willing to throw in his general direction but Levi was almost certain that there was a rule against fraternization between people of different ranks. Something about avoiding the abuse of power.

There had to be a loophole, though, and Levi would find it if it killed him. Nothing risked, nothing gained or so it went.

Before he could give himself the time to overthink it, or to think about it at all, Levi put his book back on the shelf where it belonged and rushed out of the library. He knew just where he had to go if he wanted the right information and not a dumbed down version of it.

Commander Armin Arlert's office.

A normal person might have hesitated out of either fear of the Commander or respect for the man. Levi had no reason to fear him but he did have enough respect for the Commander that he felt a little bit guilty but not enough to stop himself in his insane pursuit. No one stopped him in the hallways when he walked down them and no one stopped him at the staircase either.

The door to Armin's office was locked. Good, Levi thought. A locked door was a good sign that the owner of said door wasn't behind it. Kneeling, Levi dug out a needle and a long nail from his pocket. He held them up to the keyhole to check the sizing before putting the needle back in his pocket.

Levi checked to make sure no one was coming and then slipped the nail into the keyhole.

It was always strange to Levi how he could see the inside of the lock through touch alone, gently poking around with the nail that he had taken from a loose piece of flooring once. The lock on Armin's door was strange, there weren't any teeth on the top that needed to be pushed up and held there before the lock would disengage. Those teeth weren't on the bottom either. Levi raised an eyebrow in confusion. He slipped the nail in a bit further until he hit the back of the lock and felt a piece of metal that he'd never felt before.

Levi estimated it to be about the same size as the nail's head and circular with a dome shape.

"Shit." Levi hissed under his breath. The lock was specifically designed to stop anyone from picking it. Had Levi been using a normal lock pick, the dome would have guaranteed that the pick would continuously slip off of it, therefore rendering it impossible to push the piece of metal in and disengaging the lock.

But Levi was using a nail.

He slipped only once before the lock clicked and he was allowed access to Armin's office. It looked a lot like Eren's office, only neater around the edges. Levi idly swiped his finger along the back of the couch as he passed it. Definitely not cleaner though. The window was closed but the drapes had been pulled aside, allowing the afternoon sun to light the room.

The regulations book wouldn't be in Armin's desk, it wasn't personal enough, so Levi directed his attention to the Commander's small library instead. It only consisted of three shelving units but all of them were close to overflowing with books. Levi almost sighed despairingly, there didn't appear to be any sign of those books being cleaned regularly. Maybe he could beg Eren to let him clean Armin's office the next time the squad went on a cleaning spree of the entire castle.

Priorities.

Most of the books on the shelves were bound in brown leather but some were dyed black. Levi picked one up at random, flipped it open to the first page, skimmed it to see what the book was about, and then put it back when it was nothing but reports on how many pickles the Survey Corps. consumed on a yearly basis. The next book was about different maneuver techniques that Levi hadn't seen before and how they could, theoretically, be put into use and executed outside the walls. Levi went through several books, hyper aware of how much time had passed since he first walked into the office, he didn't know how much time he had until Armin came back but he would rather be long gone by then.

Levi grabbed one of the smaller books off the shelf. There on the page, in plain writing that tilted slightly to the right, was 'Officer's Regulations'. He smirked, skimming through the written text until he found what he had been looking for but then froze when a hand clamped down on the back of his neck, shoved him forward into the book shelf, and pinned him there. Levi grunted but even that small vocalization sent fire racing across his abused throat.

"Is this what you were looking for?" Armin asked, sickly did he get in without Levi noticing?! Levi couldn't turn his head and so he had to look out of the corner of his eye as Armin held up a book, identical to the regulations book. "I was starting to wonder when they would send someone but I didn't think it'd be you, Levi." Armin's grip on the back of his neck tightened, making the bruised skin scream.

Levi winced. His mind was blank except for the building panic at being caught and now the accusation that he was after something. Well, he was, but this sounded more serious than a regulations book. His heart was beating so hard inside his chest that Levi had to marvel that he still had a breast bone. But what the fuck was Armin talking about?

"So would I be correct if I congratulated you on a well played performance? You even had me fooled, thinking you truly cared about Eren."

Levi's confusion suddenly turned into a white hot rage, his heartbeat spiked with his anger and his blood boiled. Wordlessly, Levi held up the regulation book and let it fall open to the page he had been reading. The Commander leaned forward to skim the page but his eyes widened and a blush spread across his face as he pieced the implications together.

Just like that, the tension snapped.

Armin let go of Levi as if the cadet had burned him and stepped back, coughing awkwardly and embarrassed. It was strange to see someone like the Commander, a veteran and a leader, turn into a blushing mess.

"I guess I owe you an explanation, then." Levi wanted to say, no you really don't, I was the one that broke in. This entire thing was giving Levi a mild case of whiplash, he was sure. But he _really_ wanted one and so he kept his mouth shut. Besides, Armin was offering, it wasn't like Levi was holding him at knife point.

Armin flipped through his book until he found a suitable page and held it out for Levi to read. Without taking the book, Levi leaned forward a little to get a better look. Gunmetal eyes widened as Levi's jaw dropped.

The Commander had blackmail on the _King_!

Illegal drug deals, prostitution dens, proof that he let the Military Police sell military issued equipment in exchange for 55% of the profit. It went on and on but the bottom line of it was this: 'I get to keep Eren Jaeger, you forget that he's a titan shifter, you make sure no one finds out, you destroy any and all evidence of said titan, and I don't make all of your dirty little secrets public knowledge.'

It was like getting slapped across the face, the kind of slap that made your mind go blank until some random thought jump started it again. Levi remembered a star covered sky, cold stone beneath his feet, and a warm body standing next to him.

_Everyone has a monster inside of them. Armin's is sly, clever, and doesn't like to come out very often._

Without a word from either cadet or Commander, Levi walked out of the office in a daze.

.

.

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.

Of course it was too much to hope for. Levi glared at the large finger shaped bruising on either side of his neck. Four on one side and one on the other. The thin line where the wire had been had looked fine but after the new abuse it looked about ready to bleed; dark purple and deep red where Armin's fingers had dug in.

Levi couldn't really blame him, he had been trying to protect his best friend after all, but he could have grabbed something else. Like the back of his head or his shoulders. But no, Armin grabbed his neck and so here Levi was, out in the fields around HQ and using the still lake as a mirror. He could have gone to the medics' office or the communal showers and used the mirrors there but he hated being questioned.

And he was sure everyone would question the new bruises. Where did they come from? Had there been a fight? Who was it against? And so on and so forth. No way in hell was Levi going to willingly subjugate himself to that bullshit. However, by the look of his throat, he'd need to go to the medic station anyway.

Levi rebandaged his throat and re-tied his caravet before standing and making his way back to the castle. The medic station was on the first floor closest to the training grounds, for obvious reasons, and so Levi had to either go through the castle or around the training grounds.

He went through the castle and reached the medic station quicker than he thought he would. When he poked his head in he found the room empty. Good. The jar with the ointment he needed was in the glass case across the room, along with several others for various different things. The bandages were in a drawer that Levi passed and he grabbed a fresh roll as he went by.

The ointment still smelled as bad as Levi remembered when he opened the jar and got a face full of the stench. The mint colored ointment was notorious for staining the skin if it was applied regularly. Levi unwrapped his throat and mourned having stain-free skin. The ointment was cold but only after a few seconds of being applied it started getting warmer and warmer until it started to sting. Hanji was of the mind that if the medication didn't hurt in some way then it wasn't working. Levi liked to disagree.

But then again, pain was the best disciplinary tool that there ever was.

Of course with the way his day was going, Levi should have seen it coming. The door was suddenly kicked open, almost straight off it's hinges, and bounced off the wall as Eren stormed in. Levi's first thought was how, even when angry, Eren's turquoise eyes were beautiful. They were alive with a fire that wanted to burn something but that fire was being held back for the moment. Eren didn't say anything as he went straight for Levi, grabbing his jaw and the back of his head in the gentlest hold Levi had ever found himself in.

The callouses on Eren's hand dragged across Levi's jaw and his fingers threaded through his hair as if the strands were silk as he tilted Levi's head forward. What would it feel like, Levi wondered, to have those fingers pull and tug on his hair or if that hand gripped his jaw tighter. Would it happen if there was stone beneath Levi's knees or with something horizontal against his back?

"Armin told me what he did." Eren murmured, warm breath fanning across Levi's neck. Gunmetal eyes fluttered and had to blinked away the fantasies and sudden surge of arousal. Eren's hand left the back of Levi's head as he gently, _gently_, touched the fingerprints on his neck and followed the wire line along the side, around his nape, and to Armin's thumb print, tilting Levi's head accordingly.

The anger in Eren's eyes was still there but now it was only warm instead of scorching. Levi's breath hitched at the look of affection in those eyes. Eyes that drift away from Levi and land on the regulations book sitting on the table that was beside the glass case. Eren's thumb caressed Levi's jaw almost absentmindedly before those eyes are back on Levi. His heart was racing and no doubt Eren could feel it through the pulse point on Levi's neck.

There was just no way...was there?

Before Levi could completely question it, Eren tilted his head up, leaned down and pressed his lips against the cadet's. Levi pressed back and grabbed a handful of long brown hair to pull Eren down further.

Fuck the rules.

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.

"You did all of that on purpose." Mikasa accused from where she stood by the window. "Is there really a need to be worried that someone is after that book of yours?"

Armin held up his hands in surrender. "No, but I needed a reason to question Levi's affections towards Eren, I wasn't about to let some kid go after my best friend simply because of some misplaced hero worship lust bull shit and well...y-yeah." He trailed off as Mikasa gave him a withered look.

"I hope you're ready for Eren's retribution."

Armin gulped.

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**As always, feedback is better then liking or following.**


	8. Chapter 8

**To everyone that sent me a thing asking about the plot: There is no plot! Well...nothing story-wise. This was originally a oneshot that got way out of hand. I thought I knew what I was doing but I actually don't, so it's mostly a relationship development between these two dorks. **

**Also, *points to 'By: DredPirateBones'* the "Do-What-I-Want-And-Get-Away-With-It" card.**

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Levi wasn't the only one that noticed when the Commander walked with a noticeable limp not four days later, however, Levi was the only one to notice that Eren's hands had been freshly wrapped. There hadn't been any out-of-place lightning so it was safe to assume that Eren had simply kicked Armin's ass during a sparring match. Levi smirked into his cup of tea, irrationally pleased that it had been Eren that had won instead of someone of a higher rank.

Levi guessed it was because of two things: It showed how strong Eren was, that he could survive, and...Levi bit his lip to keep from shivering, mentally adding 'strength' to his list of kinks. For the rest of the day, the cadet couldn't stop fantasizing about what it would feel like to have Eren tossing him onto something horizontal or holding him up against something vertical; both fantasies involved sweat and ended with deliciously sore muscles.

Yeah, puberty and its raging hormones could definitely suck it, hard. But, at least now Levi could _ask_ Eren to suck it instead. Now there was a thought.

Later.

Training now.

One second.

Levi hadn't noticed that he had been looking down slightly while he daydreamed but now his eyes came up and...

One second, Levi growled to himself, that's really all it takes.

...Crashed into Hanji.

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There was a part of Levi that wanted to die. Death was better than this, he was sure. Hanji had fractured her arm and now had a cast on it and, dare Levi say it, she seemed to be in love with it. Everyone that came in to visit them, Hanji would thrust a pen in their face and demand they sign her cast and draw a titan next to their name.

"C'mon, Levi, you angry little gnome. Sign my cast!" Hanji almost shouted and shook the pen she was holding out in the open space between her bed and his. Even though Hanji and Levi could still walk, fuck you very much, the medics wanted to keep them for overnight observations to make sure that they didn't miss anything and that no complications arose.

From all the night training with Eren; learning different maneuvers, how to spin, how to change direction mid-motion without giving yourself whiplash, how to properly land when you fell, and how to get out of an uncontrollable fall ensured that Levi didn't actually get injured. Although he did twist his ankle and wrenched his shoulder almost out of its socket. Erwin, the bastard, chuckled at Hanji before flipped his cards over and revealed a score of 20.

Levi and Erwin were sitting cross-legged across from each other on the raven's assigned bed. Petra was sitting on a chair between both beds. Levi tapped the sheets, next to his own face-down cards, and Petra flipped the top card of the deck down. The eight of hearts.

22.

A bust.

Levi made a 'tsk' sound, flipped his cards over to show his score, and then tossed them into Erwin's smug little face. Erwin gave all of the cards back to Petra and she shuffled them.

"You guys should play 'Spoons' next." Hanji said. "Sign it!"

Levi flipped her off as Petra dealt cards and started the next round of 21.

"Levi!" Hanji whinned, fucking _whinned, _and shook the pen more incessantly. As if that would actually help. Levi looked up at Erwin, face completely blank.

"Kill me." He rasped, his abused throat still in the process of healing. Though at least he could talk now for short periods of time without his throat burning. Not that he talked a lot anyways but still, it was something.

Erwin's face set into something hard, ice blue eyes locking with gunmetal grey. It looked like he was going to launch into a speech about life and how precious it was with a 'don't throw your life away' smuggled in there somewhere. But Levi could see the spark of humor in those eyes.

"Next time we're on an expedition you can count on me to feed you to a titan. Don't worry, not even the good Captain will be able to save you." Erwin said very seriously.

"Thank you." Levi said and then glanced at his cards to count them. "It's nice to know that I have at least one friend who will murder for me." Petra looked mildly uncomfortable but dealt Erwin a card when he tapped the bed. Levi couldn't fathom how she wasn't used to this back and forth between the boys by now. Honestly.

"If I said I would murder for you, Levi, would you sign my cast?"

"No."

"You're no fun." Hanji pouted.

Throughout the day the two cadets had several visitors; Mike, Rico, Eld, Moblit, Nanaba even _Mikasa_-but Levi had a feeling that she was only there because it was her brother's squad-a few others that Levi didn't care to remember their names but they knew Hanji. Surprize, surprize.

When Levi went to sleep that night he had only one regret.

Eren hadn't come to visit.

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Eren's toe tapped against the floor repeatedly the longer the meeting dragged on. Mikasa had almost come in late but when she told Eren that she had checked up on his squad for him, he swore his sister was a goddess amongst worms. The meeting wasn't anything special or new; Armin simply liked having everyone's opinion on when they thought the next expedition should be and what not. A few of the other captains thought it should be in a month. Eren thought otherwise; fractures took around 6 weeks to heal and then a few more for the muscle to get strong again and Eren would have to kill someone if he had to deal with Hanji wailing about how they went on an expedition and saw titans without her.

That was what got him the most about the sudden attitude change in Hanji. Oh, sorry, Hanji, but we went beyond the walls and out into the _world_ without you but, hey, you got a free ticket to live for the next few months until we go back out.

Yes, but what about the titans? Did you see any of them? What did they look like? Did you see any ones that looked different? The world, what's that? Fuck the world, I want a titan for a pet. Hey! Would you draw a titan on my cast?

Plus Petra still hadn't gotten some of the other maneuvers down quite as well as Eren would have liked. She had potential to be one of the best but first she needed to stop thinking of the gear as an added piece of equipment and start thinking of it as an extension of herself. To trust it.

Jean and Sasha.

Eren was going to kill Jean; whose vote was to go in a month, and Sasha because she backed him up. Connie too for seconding Sasha. Of course it was common for injuries to happen during training and, sometimes, cadets had to be left behind while they healed. Of course everyone assumed that the Survey Corps would have all hands on deck every time they went out, which was just plain ignorance, they couldn't stop training while they were safely behind the walls unless they wanted the number of deaths to skyrocket with each expedition. Nor could they wait for those few people to get back into Field Condition so that they _could_ be all hands on deck. By the time those people healed, others would have gotten injured and the cycle continued.

So they got left behind.

Christa voted that they wait four months on account of one of her cadets hurt herself more often than not when trying to dismount her horse via the gear. She simply didn't have the self-confidence to do it correctly. Ymir backed her up. Eren jumped at it and seconded Ymir. Mikasa backed Eren.

A few more ideas had been thrown around, some got shot down immediately, others were discussed, but in the end the next expedition was to be in three months. Christa and Eren could deal with that; they weren't happy but they could deal.

By the time the meeting was over, it was late enough that Eren didn't have much hope of Hanji and Levi being awake but he went to the medical wing anyway. The door opened on silent hinges to a dark room filled with the sound of slow, even breathing of sleep. Eren listened for a few moments to quell his irritation and slight disappointment before he closed the door and made his way down to his own room for the night.

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**Am I the only one that sees this stupid pattern? Damn, I can't seem to write Eren into the story until the end of each chapter. **


End file.
